It’s Happening! McDonald’s Halloween Buckets Are Finally Coming Back

Get ready to trick-or-treat like it’s 1999. OK, you may not be going door-to-door for candy on Oct. 31, but you might find yourself hitting up McDonald’s drive-thrus in search of returning Halloween pails. McDonald’s Halloween buckets, which the company officially calls Halloween Pails, haven’t seen the light of day since 2016, but they will make a very glorious return for 2022. The fast food company confirmed the reports that had been swirling over the past month, and the news of McDonald’s Halloween Pails returning for 2022 will get you pumped for some throwback spooky season goodness.

IYDK, McDonald’s started giving out Halloween trick-or-treat buckets with every Happy Meal in 1986, and the fast food company handed out the pumpkin-shaped buckets on-and-off in the years following. The themed buckets, which were given out in place of a standard takeout bag, were originally made to look like jack-o-lanterns with frightening facial expressions and funky pumpkin-like shaped baskets. According to the blog Nightmare Nostalgia, the brand switched things up in 1989 and replaced two of the OG jack-o-lanterns with a witch named McWitch and a ghost named McBoo. You’ll see both again in 2022, but the witch is going back to an older moniker: McGoblin.

The Halloween pails haven’t been available since 2016, according to McDonald’s, so this return has been a long time coming. But you’ll still have to wait a couple weeks until you can get your hands on the Halloween buckets — until Oct. 18, to be exact.

The possibility of the McDonald’s Halloween buckets returning in 2022 was first sparked on Sept. 16, when Nightmare Nostalgia leaked some details of a possibly returning Halloween Happy Meal, which would include the buckets. Following that, IG foodie @Markie_Devo detailed in two Sept. 18 Instagram posts that the limited-edition pails were likely to come back.

The first photo @Markie_Devo posted showcased three “Halloween Happy Meal” buckets from years past — a white ghost; a green bucket with a triangle top shaped like a witch’s hat; and a scary, or as scary as a pail can be, jack-o-lantern.

All three buckets are making their return with what look like pretty identical faces to the original versions. McBoo (the ghost), McPunk’n (the pumpkin) and McGoblin (the witch) will be available with Happy Meal orders on Oct. 18. IDK about you, but my McNuggets are about to taste so much better when they pop out of this bucket.

Don’t forget, it’s been five years since Mickey D’s carried the Halloween pails, so expect a lot of competition surrounding the limited-edition items — just look at how fast the Cactus Plant Flea Market meals are going. Set you calendars for Oct. 18, because it’s about to be a throwback Halloween, baby!